Jean Schlumberger (1) (1877–1968)

Jean Schlumberger, né Pierre Conrad Nicolas Jean Schlumberger, was born to a prominent family in Guebwiller, in the Alsace region then disputed between France and Germany. His parents were Marguerite (de Witt) and Paul Schlumberger, the scion of a textile manufacturing family. Two of his brothers, Conrad and Marcel, founded the Schlumberger Limited Company. In 1892, Jean chose French nationality and moved to Paris, where he became a prolific journalist, novelist, playwright, and poet. He was a neighbor of André Gide at his country home in La Roque-Baignard, Normandy, and the two became lifelong friends. In 1908, together with Gide and Gaston Gallimard, Schlumberger co-founded the literary journal La Nouvelle Revue française. He also wrote nonfiction, including an autobiography, Éveils, published in 1950. Among other honors, he received the Grand Prize for Literature from the Académie française in 1942, and the Grand prix national des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture in 1955. Schlumberger married Suzanne Weyher in 1899, and they had three children. After she died in 1924, Schlumberger wrote his wife a letter every year for 40 years on the anniversary of her death. The letters were circulated privately to family and friends and then published in 1991 under the title In Memoriam suivi de Anniversaire. Correspondance André Gide-Jean Schlumberger, 1901-1950 was published by Gallimard in 1993.